Schmidt — who has a bachelors degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley — was speaking at SXSW to promote his book “The New Digital Age.” According to TechCrunch, Schmidt also came out against higher education critics such as Peter Thiel, who believe that a college degree is no longer necessary for success.

“There are various people who run around and make claims that higher education is not a good use of your time: they’re just wrong… The economic return to higher education over a lifetime produces significant compound greater earnings.” Schmidt said.

More broadly, Schmidt argued that college was undoubtedly beneficial to the majority of students, regardless of their goals, TechCrunch reports.

“If all you care about is money, you should go to college. If all you care about is culture and creativity, you should go to college. If all you care about is having fun, you should go to college. Go to college. I can’t be any clearer,” he said.